Opening Day
viennacontemporary opens its landmark tenth edition today
The tenth edition of Austria’s leading international art fair, viennacontemporary, opens today in
Halle D of Messe Wien. With around 360 artists represented at the fair, and 18 new gallery
participants, the 2024 edition is the largest to take place in recent years.
A key moment in the international art world calendar for discovering new and emerging artists, the fair returns under the Artistic Direction of Francesca Gavin, and with a renewed focus on Central and Eastern Europe. Gavin’s vision for the upcoming edition is for an expanded fair that maximizes Vienna’s central Europe location, showcasing the incredible artists and galleries coming out of the region in a series of curated sections including VCT STATEMENT: ENERGY, a new section titled CONTEXT, and the regular highlight ZONE1, which presents ten solo shows of young talents under 40 with a strong connection to Austria.
In addition to the exhibitors and curated sections, viennacontemporary offers a vast array of activities, including a Talks series providing insights into the latest trends in the art market; guided tours; a kids program; and events and exhibitions across the city of Vienna in cooperation with viennacontemporary’s long-standing partner institutions.
Exhibitor Highlights
On almost 9,000 square meters, 43 Austrian galleries, 33 Eastern European galleries and 22 galleries from the rest of the world showcase a wide range of works, with a focus on emerging artists. Top Austrian galleries show works by Ulay (*1943-2020) and Stephen Willats (Charim Galerie), Kerstin von Gabain (EXILE), Hans Op de Beeck, Marina Abramović, and Secundino Hernandez (Galerie Krinzinger) as well as Wolfgang Laib and Markus Schinwald (Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac). Galleries from Eastern Europe present artists including Denitsa Todorova (Sarieva / Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria), Vladimir Miladinović (Eugster, Belgrade, Serbia) and Ákos Birkás (*1941-2018) from Vintage, Budapest, Hungary, and Kinder Album and Kseniia Bilyk (The Naked Room, Kyiv, Ukraine).
Artists presented by a cross-section of galleries from further afield include Tomás Saraceno (Pinksummer, Genova, Italy), Mila Panić and Anastasia Sosunova (eastcontemporary, Milan, Italy), Indriķis Ģelzis and Lara Joy Evans (ASHES/ASHES, New York, USA), Kévin Bray, Vickie Vainionpää, and Jack Warne (Future Gallery, Berlin, Germany) as well as Grey Crawford, Zofia Kulik, and Katarzyna Kozyra ( Persons Projects, Berlin, Germany).